Workers loading Food Bank’s 18-wheelers find...

1of12A load of apples is prepped at the San Antonio Food Bank to be loaded onto trucks Thursday, April 16, 2020, and delivered to the Alamodome for a drive-through emergency food distribution on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News

2of12David Carvajal, warehouse manager at the San Antonio Food Bank, checks the height of a load of apples before trucks are filled on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for an emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

3of12Volunteers from Pre-K for SA load bags of produce at the San Antonio Food Bank on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for an emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

4of12Kimberly Cuevas, right, and other volunteers from Pre-K for SA load bags with produce at the San Antonio Food Bank on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for an emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

5of12Workers at the San Antonio Food Bank load trucks on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for an emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

6of12Volunteer workers from Pre-K for SA place tomatoes in bags at the San Antonio Food Bank on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for an emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

8of12Workers at the San Antonio Food Bank loads big rig trucks on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in preparation for emergency food distribution at the Alamodome on Friday.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

9of12Robert Sommers backs a forklift out of a truck after loading apples onto trucks at the San Antonio Food Bank on Thursday, April 16, 2020.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

10of12Andrew Guzman of the San Antonio Food Bank drives a forklift of apples on Thursday, April 16, 2020.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

12of12Greg Longoria of the San Antonio Food Bank carries a box of apples to be loaded onto big rig trucks on Thursday, April 16, 2020.Photo: Bob Owen /Staff photographer

A battlefield-cross tattoo on Jose Gomez’s left forearm reminds him of his Army comrades who died during his three tours as a military policeman in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“They are always in my thoughts,” he said, after glancing at the image of a rifle stuck in the ground with a soldier’s helmet on its stock. “Everyone I have served with has been family to me.”

As the transportation manager at the San Antonio Food Bank, Gomez feels the same way about his drivers.

“I treat all of them as part of my family,” he said. “Their safety is very important to me.”

That was evident Thursday afternoon as Gomez helped oversee the loading of six 18-wheelers and six box trucks with 200,000 pounds of food for Friday’s 10 a.m. drive-thru distribution at the Alamodome.

Noticing the uneven distribution of crates in the bed of one rig, Gomez jumped onto a forklift to balance it.

“Although we are in a time of crisis, we don’t want to sacrifice our drivers’ safety or the public’s safety,” he said. “If we bring something out into the public that isn’t safe, we can cause more damage than good.”

With thousands of San Antonians out of work and in need of food due to the coronavirus pandemic, Food Bank employees such as Gomez are putting in long hours in the nonprofit’s cavernous warehouse at its 210,000-square-foot campus on 40 acres on the West Side.

For Gomez, 46, working overtime to get the job done is nothing new.

“The military prepared me for long days,” said the former sergeant first class from Los Angeles, who joined the Food Bank in 2015 after 22 years in the Army.

Thursday, Gomez worked closely with warehouse manager David Carvajal, a 50-year-old native of Falfurrias who has been with the Food Bank for six years.

“In a sense, Hurricane Harvey sort of prepared us for this,” Carvajal said. “But this is a little different.”

For one thing, “every single rack space in the warehouse” was filled in 2017 when Harvey wreaked havoc on the Texas coast, Carvajal said. Now he figures it’s only about 65 percent full due to the tremendous strain the pandemic-fueled recession has placed on the Food Bank as it struggles to feed 120,000 households per week instead of the usual 58,000.

About 2,200 households are pre-registered, as required, for Friday’s drive-through distribution at the dome, a Food Bank spokesman said. Since March 31, the Food Bank has supplied goods to 15,500 households during four massive drive-through distributions alone, a Herculean effort that has led to several substantial donations, including $200,000 from Bank of America on Thursday.

“The volume is the challenge,” Gomez said. “We are probably doing close to three to four times the amount of weight we would normally distribute.”

Despite the logistical challenges that come with feeding so many, there is a palpable sense of esprit de corps among the warehouse workers, knowing they are helping so many desperate families and that the community is grateful for their efforts.

“You’re hearing from people on Facebook who you haven’t talked to for a while saying, ‘Thanks for what you are doing,’” Carvajal said. “I wear my (Food Bank) hat out in public, and people say, ‘You are doing a great job.’ All our guys are getting that.”

Forklift operator Robert Sommers, a former basketball player at Judson High School who stands out in the warehouse because of his solid 6-foot-5, 275-pound frame, said he gets an “amazing feeling” from his work.

“Growing up, I was a little privileged kid, so it feels so good to give back,” said Sommers, 44.

On the other side of the warehouse, far from the loading operation, a group of volunteers from Pre-K 4 SA were busy sorting food into packages for distribution.

Star Gabriel, 39, said the work reminds her of the camaraderie and teamwork from her days playing high school volleyball at nearby Memorial.

“There’s a sense of unity, of everyone coming together to try to make a difference at a time of crisis,” she said. “It feels really good to help out the community, our neighbors, our elderly.”

Back at the loading dock, Gomez continued checking the trucks to make sure the cargo was properly distributed. That attention to detail and determination to make sure everything is safe for his drivers didn’t go unnoticed by his crew.

“The man is amazing to work with,” Sommers said. “He is basically like a big brother from a different mother. He’s always positive. When you are down, he tells you to keep your head up and that there is always another day.”

Like Gomez, Sommers considers his co-workers family. He has fond memories of them joining him at South San High School football games to cheer on his son, Marquise Sommers, a defensive lineman who committed in December to play at West Texas A&M.

“All these guys came and supported him,” Sommers said.

When the work was done at the loading dock, Gomez returned home to be with his wife and two sons after another fulfilling day.

“I wanted to continue giving back after my military service,” he said. “That’s why I joined the Food Bank.”

After three years as a part-time employee covering mainly high school sports, Tom Orsborn became a full-time employee at the Express-News in October 1985. He's covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL since 1999 and has also covered the Spurs, the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and a variety of other events, including 14 Super Bowls.